


Loyal

by DarlingCera



Category: IT - Stephen King, It:Chapter 2
Genre: Eventual Smut, Fix-It, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Non-cannon compliant, Post IT: Chapter 2, Reddie, Slow Burn, richie/eddie - Freeform, very wholesome childhood crush turns into a wholesome healthy adult relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-13 02:16:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20574794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarlingCera/pseuds/DarlingCera
Summary: Richie will always be there for Eddie, through thick and thin.He waits at Eddie's bedside as he recovers from what should have been a death blow and helps him get his life back on track while attempting to fix his own.Somewhere amid all of that, old feelings return and grow stronger.





	1. Chapter 1

Eddie had just enough strength to tell the ER nurse to not call his wife under any circumstances before he blacked out. The last thing he remembered hearing was Richie calling his name. 

It takes both Bill and Ben to get Richie settled into a waiting room chair. Beverly goes to get him a paper cup full of water from the fountain. They are all shaken, horrified, and exhausted but so incredibly relieved that Pennywise has finally been defeated. Soon they will all leave this town and hopefully never forget one another again. 

As much as he doesn’t want to, Bill convinces Richie to leave the hospital. They are all bone tired and stink like gray water. Richie is, for once, silent as he and Bill sit in the back of a cab on their way back to the inn. He showers, lets bill help him bandage his wounds and knocks back a few drinks before exhaustion finally overtakes him. After Bill cleans up, he lays down in the other full size bed because he is unwilling to leave Richie alone in this state. His phone is on the charger and the ringer is on full volume. Beverly and Ben have come back, leaving Mike on Eddie watch for the next few hours. 

Richie wakes up the next morning, his entire body aching as he slowly gets out of bed. “Fuck, we’re getting old…” He says to Bill, who is already sipping on a cup of coffee “Any news?” he asks. 

Bill puts down his cup “Mike left at around six. Ben and Bev are there now He’s stable, but he’s still in intensive care. That fucking claw thing went right righ through him and just barely missed the important stuff.” Richie thinks about how Eddie is going to have a huge scar from this, and the frenzy it’s going to send that wife of his into, if she was anything like Eddie’s mom had been, then she would never let Eddie out of her sight again. 

“Did anyone call Eddie’s wife?” He asked.

“No. He said not to. We’re not going to call her unless we absolutely have to.” By Absolutely have to, Bill meant “Only if Eddie dies on us.” 

Richie nodded and began to get dressed, 

“Hey, eat something! And tell Mike I’ll be there around two!” Bill said as Richie left the room. Richie went downstairs to the continental breakfast where he grabbed a couple of pieces of toast and a bottle of water. His stomach was too uneasy for much more. He wrapped the bread in a napkin and got in his car, speeding all the way to the hospital. 

“Eddie’s got a long road ahead of him.” Mike said when he saw Richie “But the doctors think that he’s going to pull through.” Richie was allowed to very briefly see Eddie through the window of his room in the ICU. He looked terrible, but better than he had down in IT’s lair. It felt good just to see Eddie, to see the incredibly slow rise and fall of his chest and to know that Eddie was still alive. 

Weeks go by, Richie has rescheduled several shows to stay close to Eddie, Ben and Beverly had gone on a trip together because Tom had been particularly mad when he was served divorce papers. Mike was back at work and Bill had gone to finish up the movie he was working on. He knew they would all meet again soon, but for now, it was just him looking out for Eddie. When the day Richie was allowed to set foot inside of Eddie’s room, Richie was sure he would cry. 

“Hey, Eds.” He said, sitting down in a chair that he pulled up next to the bed. Eddie had been moved from intensive care that morning, and now he was in a regular hospital room. 

“Richie…” he said softly “Where is everyone else?” 

“They all had to go for a while...Mike’s at work. He’s been coming sometimes. I told everyone when you were ok to take visitors. They’re all going to come back.” 

“I gotta go home eventually…” Eddie looks up at Richie. 

“I gotta face Myra….I can’t believe she hasn’t come looking for me yet.” He relizes that he hadn’t told Myra where he was going and she probably wouldn’t even begin to know where to start looking for him. Maybe she was looking in all the wrong places. 

“Yeah. You gotta go home to your wife, man.” Richie gave him a sad smile and patted his hand. He wondered if Eddie really did love his wife. To Richie, it seemed like Eddie had married a carbon copy of his mom. Richie wouldn’t have been surprised if Sonya had set the two of them up in some effort to further control every single aspect of Eddie’s life. 

Richie had wondered if it had been because Eddie had been hurt, and Richie was looking after him, but since he had been back in Derry he had begun having those feelings again. The ones that had started that first summer twenty-seven years ago. When Richie thought about his future as a young man, there was never a wife. It had always been a ‘best friend’ that he lived with until he was old and gray, who he simply hadn’t met yet. This seemed like a good narrative, until he met Eddie. Suddenly Eddie was that best friend with whom he would spend the rest of his days...and who he sometimes held hands with, and maybe kissed a few times here and there. He laughs thinking about it now, but he can’t laugh at the fact that all he wants to do right now is kiss Eddie. 

Eddie gets discharged, finally, and he gets back in his car to drive home. Richie gets on a plane to LA, hoping and praying that he doesn’t forget Eddie. The others have all left Derry and they don’t seem to have forgotten, maybe because It has finally died. 

“Text me when you get home.” Richie says through the window of Eddie’s car. 

“I will.” Eddie doesn’t feel ready to make the drive back, but he’s got to. He’s got to face Myra and get his life at least somewhat in order. His job is probably gone, and he’s probably behind on all of his bills. The thought makes his heart pound in his chest as he takes the exit onto the highway. 

When Eddie gets home, he notices that Myra’s car isn’t in the driveway. He opens the front door and finds the house empty. Literally empty. All of the furniture is gone, the floors are polished but bare. He goes upstairs and finds what remains of his clothing and possessions. Downstairs, he finds that the fridge is empty. On the counter is a manilla envelope. A note is attached to it with a paperclip that is shaped like a bow. He recognizes Myra’s neat cursive. 

_ Eddie,  _

_ My heart can’t take it anymore. I love you , but my nerves are shot. I can’t keep waiting for you like this, it’s taking years off of my life. If you do come back, I don’t think I can forgive you I moved in with my sister.  _ _ If you come back, please sign the divorce papers and put them in the mail.  _

_ Always,  _

_ Myra _

Eddie looked at the date on the note. Two weeks ago. He takes a moment, looks through the papers and assesses the risk. She’s taking most of their stuff, and the house. Eddie begins to panic, reaching for the inhaler that hasn’t been in his pocket for over a month. Instead he pulls out his phone and calls Richie. 

“Hey, Eds. You get home safe?” Richie asks. 

“Richie...I got home and my whole fucking house was empty.”

“Holy shit man! Did they steal your wife too?” He asks, assuming that the house had been robbed. 

“The only things in the house are the rest of my clothes and divorce papers.” Eddie is talking way too fast now. 

“Hang on, did you just say divorce papers?” Richie sits down on his couch and crosses his legs “Like your wife, who clings to you like saran wrap, who is so concerned with your health and well-being that she would probably inspect your every bowl movement if you’d let her? A younger, but just as controlling version of your mom? _ She’s  _ leaving _ you?” _

“Yeah. And from the looks of these papers she’s taking just about everything. The house included.” Eddie is thumbing through the paper and feels like he’s going to be sick, even though he hated everything in this house because his mom and Myra had done all the decorating together when they first got married. “Fuck, Rich, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. My job won’t take me back after disappearing like that.” 

“You could always come out here and stay with me.” Richie suggested, without a single thought. 

“Yeah…” Eddie said “I could. I can do my job anywhere.” He said. Everywhere needed risk assessment. He could find himself a sweet gig out in California and live with his best friend, no mom, no myra, nobody in charge of his life but himself. 

“So you’ll come?” Richie says. 

“Yeah. Let me pack up the last bit of my stuff.” He says, stunned that he doesn't have to think twice about it “And sign these papers.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Eddie packed the last of his clothing in trash bags and shoved them in the trunk of his car. He tucked the envelope containing the divorce papers, completely uncontested, into the mailbox and put up the little plastic flag. He left a forwarding address and hoped that soon his marriage would be completely dissolved. 

Back in LA, Richie began to do something he hardly ever did or he paid someone else to do, he cleaned his apartment. He started out with the unused guest room. He bought bedding, and a small rug along with a few other things to cozy up the room, excitement making his heart flutter just a little. Richie thought about going sightseeing with Eddie once he was settled in, going to the beach, Eddie waiting for him backstage at his shows. That thought was heading down a much more interesting path and Richie sat down on the freshly made guest bed, attempting to think of anything but Eddie sucking him off in a green room. 

“That escalated quickly.” Richie said, getting up and heading to the kitchen. Loading the

dishwasher was such a boring task that it would certainly make him stop thinking about how good it would feel to bend Eddie over that bed and dirty up those new sheets. Richie was suddenly well aware of the fact that he had never even kissed another guy, and it had been forever since he had gotten laid because he was sick and tired of pretending to like girls, but not ready to get seriously involved with a guy “Maybe I don’t want just any guy…” He thinks, as he deletes another dating app off of his phone later that evening, ignoring a handful of unread messages from guys who were not Eddie Kaspbrak 

It takes Eddie nearly a week to drive across the country with regular rest breaks and nights spent in cheap motels. He had started applying to jobs in his new city from his phone before he went to bed, hoping that it might stave off some of his anxiety about being unemployed. He had a few good references, and decided it would be better not to list his last job on his resume before someone told a potential employer that he had just up and disappeared for over a month. He had already gotten a couple of calls and an interview set up for the following Tuesday.

It was dinner time when Eddie arrived at Richie’s door. 

“Eds!” Richie said, arms wide. Eddie hugged him. Richie took the bags from Eddie’s hand and began hauling them to the guest bedroom. Richie looked good,better than he had in Derry, and he wondered if Richie was drinking less, or if he was just happy to see Eddie. “  _ Everyone looks better when they know they never have to hunt down an evil clown again.”  _ Eddie thinks. 

Richie had ordered pizza for dinner and Eddie happily took a slice and sat down on Richie’s couch. 

“So tell me everything.” Richie said “How was your trip? No, wait, start when you got home.”

Eddie paused, thinking about how horrible it felt to be going back to his old life (And further away from Richie). “So I drove back from Derry, dreading Myra but thanking God that my mom’s dead and I wouldn’t have to hear the whole thing twice. But when I got home I opened the door and the whole fucking place was empty save whats in those trash bags and the divorce papers. And I know this is terrible, but I felt so relieved, but then of course the sensible part of me started freaking out because I had nowhere to live and my job was gone.” 

Richie chuckled “Your mom hated my guts. She was always calling my mom, and my mom got so sick of hearing her tell her what an absolute shithead I was, but caller ID wasn’t a thing back then so she took the gamble every time she picked up the phone.”

“My mom wouldn’t have said it like that...but yeah that was the sentiment.”

“She thought I was gonna ruin her little Eddie.” Eddie might have taken Richie’s tone out of context.  _ You can ruin me any day,  _ Eddie thought, drinking in that smug look on Richie’s face. He quickly gets the conversation back on track before he can think more about the ways Richie can ruin him. 

“I only realized this morning that I left my wedding ring by the sink in one of the places I stayed on the way here.” Richie looked at Eddie’s hand and saw that the gold band was gone and only a little white tan line remained of it. “Anyway. I’ve got a job interview next Tuesday so hopefully I can start helping with bills and stuff soon.” 

“Geez, you really didn’t waste any time, was the mere thought of financial distress making you constipated or something?.” Richie said.

“No, the thought of being unemployed was giving me heart palpitations, thank you very much.” Eddie laughed. Strangely enough, he hadn’t felt sick at all since he had left the hospital. He had stopped taking the bags upon bags of pills that Myra had sent him away with. He felt sturdier, like he was able to stand on his own two feet without the help of a thick prescription pad. He was sure this was partially due to the fact that he had done a good deal of damage to Pennywise and saved Richie’s life while doing so. 

When they were done with dinner, Eddie got a shower and changed into his pajamas before returning to the couch. Richie turned on a movie, some slapstick buddy movie, while Eddie read through his texts. He told Bill and Mike what had transpired over the last week, but he didn’t dare open up his social media. He was sure that there was enough there from Myra to put him in a shitty mood. He would go through it one day, but not today. 

“You good, man?” Richie asked, taking a sip from his beer.

“Yeah. Just letting everyone know I got here ok.” Eddie smiled. 

“Hey, I’m gonna go to bed.We should go do something tomorrow” Richie got up and Stretched. 

“Like what?” Eddie asked. 

“Maybe the beach or some touristy thing.”Richie shrugged.

“Oh, you wanna see me half naked and all wet?” Eddie laughed. He hadn’t been to the beach in a very long time. That was something his mother never allowed for a laundry list of increasingly bizarre reasons. 

“Maybe.” Richie’s tone was dismissive. He needed it to look like he didn’t want to see Eddie half naked and all wet, even though there was nothing he would like more except Eddie completely naked and all wet. Or Eddie fully dressed and cuddled up under the covers with him, or doing a million little day to day things that would have been so much more special with Eddie by his side. 

“Alright, I’m sure we’ll think of something.” Eddie stood up “Thanks again.” 

“Don’t get all sappy on me, Eds.” Richie said.   
“Goodnight, trash mouth.” Eddie turned and padded barefoot to the guest room. 

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

The morning is warm, but not overly hot. The Pacific ocean is lapping tepid waves against the pearly white sand. Gulls fly overhead, the leaves on the palm trees sway gently in the breeze. 

“Richie, share the damn hammock.” Eddie said, a paperback was tucked under his arm. He was almost white with sunscreen and his eyes were obscured by dark glasses. The hammock is hanging between two palm trees. The beach was pretty busy, and they were lucky to get this spot. 

“Fucking make me!” Richie shoots back, not looking up from his phone. Eddie looks at the hammock and decides it can probably hold both of them. He climbs in opposite of Richie, while Richie began to loudly complain. Their limbs tangled together with a surprising feeling of ease and familiarity. Eddie’s foot was right by Eddie’s face. 

“You’re lucky I don’t have a foot fetish.” Richie said, shoving the appendage gently away from his face. Eddie used his big toe to nudge Richie’s glasses off of his face with a smirk just as Richie is starting to notice how good Eddie looks in just his swim trunks. 

“What the hell did you do that for!” Richie began to reach over the side of the hammock, thinking he could grab his glasses from the sand without tipping them over. He thought wrong. They tumbled out of the hammock, landing right next to each other in an awkward splay of limbs. Eddie looked over at Richie who was still feeling around for his glasses. Eddie spotted them just out of Richie’s grasp. He reached over Richie’s body and grabbed them, 

Richie reaches for the glasses, his hand gently brushing against Eddie’s , they’re still close, Eddie leaning over Richie’s upper body, If he leaned in just a little more....Richie can smell the copious amounts of sunscreen on Eddie, he’s so close. 

“Thanks…” Richie takes his glasses and puts them back on. Eddie’s face is suddenly hot. 

“You’re welcome…” He says “I need to get the sand off of me.” Eddie’s body was still a little slick and sticky from sunscreen, and the sand has stuck to him like sugar on a cookie. 

“Me too.” Richie mostly needs to get into the cool water to hide the fact that for some inexplicable reason, he’s getting hard. He lets Eddy get up first and once Eddie is a good few paces away from him, Richie gets up and quickly adjusts himself before following Eddie to the water. He leaves his shirt behind on the hammock and gives himself a half-assed spray with the bottle of sunscreen. 

The cool water washes away the thousands of tiny granules attached to Eddie’s back and arms and it somewhat solves Richie’s problem, though Eddie looks so good standing there, waist deep in the ocean, water droplets sparkling on his skin, his usually neat hair a wet mess. Eddie is getting an eye full as well. He notices the big tattoo on Richie’s shoulder and even though he can’t really tell what it is from this distance, he likes it because it would have sent his mom into a tizzy. Sonya would have another heart attack if she found out how badly Eddie wanted to run his fingers and maybe his tongue over that tattoo. 

“You alright, Eds? You’re kinda staring off into space.” Richie looked concerned. 

“Yeah, when’d you get that tattoo?” He absolutely wants to know.

“Oh...Maybe ten years ago? I got it touched up a while back. It doesn’t mean anything, I just saw it on the wall and thought it was cool.I think that’s sort of the case with all of them” It was a traditional style tattoo of a big, tropical flower similar to the ones on all of those shirts that Richie wore it was in full, bright color. There were two stars on his lower hips too, he almost regretted those. They were trendy when he got them, but had since faded out of fashion. At least he hadn’t bought into “Tattoo guns on your hips” trend. 

“You got more? Eddie asked.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” Richie winked.

“I haven’t got a thing to show you.” Eddie shrugged.He had barely been alone long enough to shit in peace, let alone go out and get tattooed. 

“Alright.” Richie rolled his eyes and turned around, there was a ship in a bottle on the back of his other shoulder. “Once again, I saw it on the wall and thought it looked cool. I’m kind of a sucker for the art style. But I’ll show you my favorite one when we get home.It wouldn’t be decent for me to show it to you here, it’s that awesome.”  _ He’s the type to get a dick tattoo _ Eddie thinks. 

They went back to the apartment a few hours later, after spending some more time in the water and grabbing dinner on the way back.

“Hey Rich, you never showed me that other tattoo. Your favorite.” The tattoo was in fact, Richie’s least favorite, but people seemed to get a kick out of it, and he loved nothing more than getting a laugh out of people. Without warning, Richie pulled the back side of his trunks down, revealing his entire ass to a very surprised Eddie. 

Eddie had to get a little closer to figure out what he was looking at.

“Is that….Is that a golf ball? Rich, why would you get a golf ball tattooed on your ass?” he asked, knitting his brows together and wanting to touch the tattoo as if that would help him figure out what it was. 

“It’s the Death Star, dipshit.” Richie had gotten a tattoo on a dare, in someone’s garage, while absolutely plastered. He was lucky he didn’t get some kind of blood poisoning from that. 

“I feel like there should be some kind of moon pun but I can’t come up with anything.” Eddie steps away as Richie pulls his trunks back up. 

“Because that’s no moon.” Richie said sagely as he disappeared into the bathroom to shower. 

Eddie gets himself a glass of water and goes into the guest bedroom, he is mostly dry now , but he still doesn’t want to sit on his bed. Instead, he sets himself to working on putting his clothes away. Most of them are wrinkled, and his job interview was less than twenty-four hours away and he has to prepare. He takes his best suit out and lays it across the bed, thankful Myra hadn’t taken his steamer because he doubted Richie owned an iron. 

Richie came out of the bathroom in just a towel. “All yours, Eds.” he said while Eddie averted his eyes. The last thing he needed to be thinking about was Richie naked. He got cleaned up and found Richie on the sofa. 

“You want me to help you get ready for your interview?” Richie asked. 

“Sure.” Eddie sat down on the sofa, comfortably clad in his pajamas. Pajamas that Myra had bought him for Christmas the previous year. He felt bad for hurting her, he truly did, but he had never felt so free in his life. 

Richie thought of common interview questions and in his most official tone, began interrogating Eddie, who was absolutely not going to take this seriously. 

“So, Mr. Kaspbrak, why do you want to work at Sad Men in Suits incorporated?” 

Eddie snorted. 

“I’d like to not be living out on the streets of LA after my best friend kicks me out for not paying half the rent.” Eddie smiles. 

“I understand that, but are there no other ways you can pay your friend? I believe the saying is ‘Cash, ass or grass.” Richie still had a completely straight face. 

“Well sir, you gotta have cash to get grass, and that only leaves ass, which I have a feeling might count as prostitution, which is illegal, sir.” 

Richie nodded, satisfied with the answer. 

“What do you plan to accomplish as an associate of Sad Men in Suits incorporated?” 

“I aim to be the saddest man who ever donned a three-piece.” 

Richie laughed 

“You’re hired on the condition that you suck me off, right here right now.” He said, offering Richie a handshake as he scooted to within a few inches of Eddie. . 

Eddie immediately retracted his hand “I don’t think so ,boss, this may be Hollywood but this isn’t a casting couch.” 

Richie burst into a fit of laughter “Damn, Eds you got some chucks in you. You sure you don’t want to go into stand up?” 

Eddie shrugged “Wouldn’t wanna steal your thunder.” he said as Richie let out another peal of laughter. They were so close, Eddie was suddenly overcome by an unusual wave of emotion. He wanted absolutely nothing more than to lean over and kiss Richie. He directed his eyes away and got up off of the couch, having no idea that Richie was fighting the urge to pull Eddie close and kiss him until they were both breathless. 

“I gotta go to bed, it’s late and my interview is at nine-thirty.” Eddie moved quickly back to the guest room.

Once the door closed, Richie got up from the couch, made himself a drink and, feeling a flood of feelings that he hadn’t felt in nearly thirty years, he sat down to roll a joint. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of a Myra heavy chapter. I don't ship Myra and Eddie,they were really both just terrible for each other for a lot of reasons. To me They had kind of a mutually assured slow painful destruction sort of relationship.   
But also enjoy my little Myra headcanon towards the end and let me know how you feel about it.

Eddie had gotten the job. He had aced the interview and had been hired on the spot. His first day was in two weeks time. 

However, his happiness soon faded as he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket while he drove back to the apartment. He pulled over and used the bluetooth to make the call come over his car speakers. 

Myra. 

He was tempted to ignore it, but he had a feeling that he shouldn’t. 

“Hello?” He said calmly.

“Eddie?” Came her voice, so much like his mother’s.

“Myra…” he replied.

“Eddie I’m calling because the house sold. The divorce should be finalized next week.” She was all business, but still seemed chipper. Anyway, you’re legally entitled to half of the money from the sale of the house, but you’re going to have to come sign the paperwork, it’s got to be in person and notarized, and they’ll cut you a check while you’re here.” 

Eddie couldn’t think of what to say. 

“Eddie, are you alright?” She asked.

“Yeah. How much did the house go for?” Eddie snapped back into reality. 

“About a hundred and sixty thousand.” Myra had been pleased that all the work she had put into the house had paid off. He was getting about eighty grand out of the house. Anything is pleasantly surprising when one expects absolutely nothing. 

“Can you drive up here next wednesday?” She asked, assuming he was still relatively close by.

“Yeah, about that. I’m gonna have to fly. I sort of moved across the country. I’ll see if I can catch a plane. I’ll let you know.” Eddie nervously awaited her reaction. 

“Oh...Alright. Let me know if you need to reschedule. Bye Eddie.” He had been worried that she would be more upset, but it turned out that she seemed rather unaffected by the whole thing, as if it was the dentist calling her to reschedule a cleaning.

“Bye…” He said after she hung up. 

As Eddie drove home he thought about Myra, and how she was taking this whole thing surprisingly well. He had a feeling that it wouldn’t be this easy if it had been him trying to divorce her. They had been bad for each other, that was the long and short of it. Eddie had never loved her, she had just been an extension of his mother. He remembered how close Myra and Sonia had been. Myra’s mom had passed when she was young, and when Eddie had brought Myra home to meet his mother, they immediately hit it off. Myra clung to Sonia like she was her own mother. Soon they were going out and doing things completely without him, and Eddie didn’t particularly mind because being in the same room as both of them had been absolutely exhausting. 

Sonia had immediately informed Myra that her son was a very sick young man, and while Sonia still fussed over Eddie, upon their wedding day it became Myra’s full-time job to care for Eddie while Sonia retired and kept a close eye on them. But as much as Myra fussed and fretted over Eddie and over the twenty-five first-graders she was put in charge of from September to June, he always knew that it wasn’t enough. For the first few years of their marriage, Myra had hopefully been knitting baby blankets, little hats, booties and cardigans in a variety of colors “For when the time comes” but the time never came. About a year ago, Eddie had found all the items in a box marked for donation by the front door. He didn’t say a word about it to Myra and simply let her do what she felt she had to. He was almost relieved when Myra gave up, because every time he had sex with her the only way he could finish was by thinking about men. Eddie recalled suddenly, that he seemed to always end up thinking about dark haired men with glasses. “I must just have a type.” He had thought sadly as he lay next to Myra. 

The only time Myra had let up on her obsessive care-taking of Eddie was when Sonia was dying. Myra had gotten a long-term substitute to watch her first-graders and spent most of her time caring for Sonia in the ways that Eddie should have been, but couldn’t bring himself to. “It’s alright, Eddie. I’ll be strong for both of us.” Myra had said, big fat tears in her eyes, on the day Sonia was put on home-hospice. Eddie had gone with the idea that caring for his dying mother would simply be too much for him, but he knew deep down he couldn’t make himself care for her because he wanted her to die faster. 

When Sonia finally died, Myra’s grief was what people probably expected of Eddie. It was a grief that Eddie was sure nobody in all of human history had ever felt for their mother-in-law. Eddie, however, felt that more than thirty years of stifling, overbearing love and care was finally over. Or at least reduced by half because Myra was still around. He was wrong. 

Unfortunately Myra’s preoccupation with motherhood and the lack of Sonia’s presence morphed into even more interest in caring for Eddie and his various ailments that had been the product of Sonia’s insistence that Eddie was so incredibly delicate despite everything the doctors had told her. Eddie still had the laundry list of pills in his suitcase that he had taken to Derry and never unpacked. He hadn’t taken a pill since the pain from his wound faded. He knew he should have tapered off some of them, but they had to just be a bunch of placebos, right?  
“You alright, Eds?” Richie asked when Eddie came through the door “Did you get the job?” 

“Yeah they hired me on the spot. I start in two weeks. By the way, Myra called.” Eddie was walking back to his room, Richie followed. 

“You’re just gonna leave me with ‘Myra called’?” He asked, standing in the doorway to Eddie’s room. 

“I gotta go back out there, to New York.” He sighed, flopping back on the bed. 

“Do not tell me that you’re gonna move out here, get yourself a nice job, get away from your mom-wife and start living a normal life only to go back there.” The thought made Richie a little mad. 

“I have to go back there because Myra sold the house and I get eighty grand out of it.” 

Richie was stunned.

“Eddie, I have never seen anybody be so bummed out about eighty thousand dollars.” 

Eddie sat up. 

“It’s not the money Rich, I just don’t want to see her, I’m afraid she’s gonna try and get me to go back to her. What if this is all a set up?” He wouldn’t put it past his mom to do something like this so he certainly wouldn’t put it past Myra. Richie had seen how stifling and manipulative Mrs.K had been first hand, hand he could only imagine what Myra was like. 

“I’ve got dates in New York next week. I’ll go with you.” Riche said. The idea immediately made Eddie feel a little better. He probably wouldn’t be able to go with Eddie to sign the papers, because he had a few radio interviews to do while he was there, but he would at least be a lifeline for Eddie if he needed it. 

“Alright. Yeah. Good.” Eddie said.

They arrived in New York late Tuesday night. Eddie fell asleep as soon as he hit the hotel bed. Richie had gotten up early to appear on a morning mess radio show. He loafed around the hotel room until three. Eddie got dressed and got in a cab that would take him to the lawyer’s office for the finalization of the divorce and to notarize the papers that would give Eddie his half of the house-money. . 

When Eddie saw Myra for the first time in months, he noticed that she looked nice. She had cut her hair, and she had on an outfit that he had never seen before. Myra had always been a fan of retail therapy. 

“Sorry I’m late.” She said “Parent-teacher conference went over” She didn’t say much else to him as they walked inside. He got his check, and was finally, legally released from the last bit of his old life. But he couldn’t help but ask her how she had been out of an inexplicable curiosity. 

“Everything is good.” She said “I’m still living with Stella. Helping her with the kids. Stella and I are going to go see Richie Tozier at that comedy club tonight. She won a pair of tickets to the show in a raffle at work.I think I saw him on TV once. He’s pretty funny, in kind of an off-color way.” Stella, Myra’s sister, had always been accusing Eddie of abusing her sister’s good nature. She thought a good laugh might help her sister get out of the slump that scumbag Eddie Kasprak left her in. 

Eddie had a backstage pass in his wallet. It occurred to Eddie that he had never seen Richie actually perform, all of the comedy he had seen from Richie had been pretty off the cuff, just him being himself. It would be an interesting sight to see Richie doing a routine. 

Myra reaches for her car keys. “Oh, before I forget.” she said, reaching into her front seat. “I accidentally took this with me when I moved out. It’s just some old photos and stuff.” She handed him a weathered shoebox before getting in her car and driving off before Eddie could say anything else. Eddie opened the box. She was right, but he would look at them later. 

Eddie sat up front at the comedy show. Richie had worked a few new jokes into his routine. Some of them were probably in particularly poor taste regarding saving his childhood best friend from his fat, crazy domineering wife who was just like his fat, crazy domineering mother.. Richie knew Myra was there somewhere, and probably sobbing, assuming that Eddie had been talking bad about her these last few months when in reality he had barely said a thing. They had been bad for each other, Eddie and Myra were a match made in hell (or purgatory, if you wanted to really think hard about it), but he didn’t need Richie making things worse. 

It took everything Eddie had not to yell “BEEP BEEP RICHIE!” At the stage, and he figured Richie probably couldn’t hear him. 

Eddie went backstage after the show, Richie was greeting fans and taking pictures with people who also had backstage passes. 

“Richie…” Eddie said, already feeling a little anxiety welling up. 

“Did you enjoy the show, Eds?” Richie asked, glowing with pride. He noticed the look on Eddie’s face but he couldn’t quite figure it out. He thought maybe Eddie was playing some kind of joke and he was about to burst out in a flood of praise for his friend’s comedic genius. 

“Richie, Myra was in the audience. With her sister. Who has wanted to beat the ever loving shit out of me for a very long time.” 

This made Richie burst into laughter “No shit, really Eds? Oh my God!” 

“Beep beep, Richie.” Eddie’s tone was grave. 

“Oh come on, why can’t I make fun of your ex wife? Are you still in love with her or something?” Richie made a pouty face. 

“Because it’s not like we had some bitter divorce! Maybe if I had some resentment I’d think it was funny, but I don’t. I’m glad Myra’s out of my life, but I also just want to leave it alone. She could have taken me to court and gotten that eighty grand. Her sister is probably trying to find some way to get the money back from me. He was by no means a greedy person, but that money certainly made him feel a lot more secure. “Rich, it isn’t your divorce to joke about. I just want to leave her in the past.” 

Leave her in the past, he could not. Myra was at the stage door, thankfully she hadn’t brought Stella. 

She gave Eddie a shove, mascara was streaming down her face. Richie immediately stepped between Eddie and Myra. 

“Why would you let him talk about me like that, Eddie?” She sobbed. 

“I have no control over his mouth, Myra , I’m so sorry.” Eddie peeked from behind Richie. 

“Eddie, what the fuck! She made you miserable for years! And you’re going to defend? Your mommy issues go way too deep, man. This is some Oedipal shit.” Richie is reminded of the way Eddie would plead and suck up to his mom whenever he got in trouble. 

“Come back with me Eddie.” She pleaded, “We can live a nice life again. Away from awful people like him.” 

Eddie reminds himself that he had thrown a metal fence post into the gaping maw of an evil clown, and had nearly died for it. He had grown a rock solid spine in Derry, and he wasn’t about to let Myra’s tears soften it. But it wasn’t solid enough to ask Richie to give them some privacy. Richie moved from in between them, but stayed close at hand. 

“Myra, I don’t want to go back with you.” he said, his tone confident. She sniffled and made some choked noises. “I shouldn’t have married you in the first place. I should have been more honest with myself and with you, and I should have never let things get this far.” 

“Eddie, what kind of cockadoody nonsense are you going on about?” Eddie hated that word, why couldn’t Myra just swear like a normal person? Myra said she had picked it up when she used to spend summers in Colorado on her Aunt Annie’s farm. 

“Myra I’m gay. I’ve been gay literally my whole life. Every time I had sex with you, I was thinking about men. ” He maybe didn’t need to include that last bit, but it really drove the point home. 

Her face fell. 

“Is that why you wanted me to wear that disgusting fake...thing. “ She was talking about the strap-on he had purchased one Valentine’s day. “ You know what Eddie? This makes a lot of sense. It’s like you’re out to embarass me. First your stupid friend makes cruel jokes about me on stage, while I’m there” She pointed an accusatory finger at Richie. “And now this? You must really want me gone, I didn’t think you would stoop this low, but I get it, Eddie. Fine. I’ll go.” Before Eddie could say anything further, Myra was walking away. 

“Did she say something about a strap on?.” Richie said, sounding a little pleased. 

Eddie looked up at Richie, a hint of irritation in his eyes. He really could have done without this whole scene. 

“Well, at least she didn’t ask for the money back.” Richie shrugged. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small content warning for drugging.

The first thing that Richie and Eddie did upon their return to LA was go to the liquor store. There was nothing Eddie wanted more than a drink, or several after the ordeal with Myra and hearing Richie go on and on about that damn strap-on during the flight back, even after the stewardess had given Richie an ugly look. They drove home and Richie poured the first shots. Eddie was apprehensive, what about reactions with his medications? He then remembered that there were no more medications. However, Eddie had never gotten good and drunk before. When would he have been away from his mom or his wife long enough for that? He hadn’t even had more than two beers at his bachelor party. 

“Fuck it.” he thought and downed the first shot. Then another. They had the radio going, playing all the hits from when they were young. It had turned into quite a pleasant little party for two. It didn’t take them too long to get comfortably drunk, switching from liquor to beer and settling on the couch to watch movies that they would have seen together in the Capitol theatre. Revenge of the Nerds was on the TV now a character named Booger caught Eddie’s attention, bringing back yet another memory from Derry. They were coming back regularly, in little snippets of information . He turned to Richie.

“Whatever happened to that kid from school …I think he was maybe a grade below us”Eddie said.

“What kid? There’s a lot of kids in schools.” Richie got unnecessarily sarcastic when he drank, which was almost all the time. 

“Boogers Taliendo. Do you think the clown got him too?” 

“Oh God, I hope not.” Richie, only slightly more drunk than usual, pulled out his phone, half-assedly typed “Taliendo” In the search bar on Facebook and set the location to Maine. 

Vincent Taliendo came up, but the man in the picture was unmistakably an older version of the kid who apparently had the tastiest boogers in Derry. 

“Thank God, Eds! Boogers is still alive!” Richie showed him the profile. The next half hour was spent looking up people from elementary school on Facebook, commenting on what their lives must be like. Some of them had gotten out of Derry some hadn’t. Some even had kids that had been devoured by Pennywise.

“Hey...I almost forgot. Myra gave me this box.” Eddie said, standing up from the couch.

Richie laughed 

“Dude, shut the fuck up.” Eddie rolled his eyes and went to the bedroom to grab the sizeable box that Myra had given him when he thought they were parting ways for the final time. 

He brought the box back out and sat down on the sofa, opening the lid carefully. The first thing, sitting on the very top, was his plaster cast. He had snuck it home in his backpack after getting it removed. It still red plain as day “LOVER” 

“Holy shit!” Eddie said pulling the cast out of the box.

“Good to have if you ever bust your arm again.” Richie laughed. 

The rest was old photos, some stones, a few other little ods and ends. A token from the arcade, a cool leaf that crumbled when Eddie picked it up. At the bottom though, was easily the most important thing in the box. 

A close-up photo of himself and Richie, at what he guessed was his birthday. They’re both smiling at the camera, looking as though they hadn’t been through hell only a few weeks before. In the background, Eddie could see barely Stan holding a piece of cake on a paper plate. He was suddenly wrought with emotion as he handed the photo to Richie.

Richie looked at it carefully and smiled even though he remembered how hard it had been back then. He had been feeling so much that he couldn’t explain, and that he was trying to chalk up to Eddie being his very best friend in the whole world. Sometimes you just wanted to hold your best friend’s hand in the back of the movie theatre, right? Richie knew better now. He now knew that he had been experiencing the biggest crush of his lifetime. Richie and Eddie, like all teenagers, had talked about having an apartment together. Nothing seems cooler than living with your best friend when you’re stuck living with your lame parents. But Richie thought of Eddie coming home from work when they were older in a way that he imagined wives think of their husbands coming home, there was always a long, sweet kiss.

“This is going on the fridge, as a monument to our many years of friendship” Richie declared, getting up and affixing the picture to the fridge with a magnet before coming back.

Eventually, Eddie’s stomach soured and he threw up. Richie got him to bed, lying on his side with an empty trash can nearby just in case. Richie went to bed and shut his eyes. Sobering up now, he thought about the picture and about how he had loved Eddie back then. Those same feelings were welling up inside of him again. But he was again, too scared to say anything. Then a horrible thought crossed his mind.

_ What will I do when Eddie starts dating? _ He figured he would be able to deal with Eddie bringing girls home. He’d be fine, it would suck yeah, but Richie might eventually find himself a man and get over it as much as he could. There was nothing he could do about Eddie being straight. But now that he knew Eddie was gay, he wasnt sure he could take Eddie bringing a guy home. He knew he had no claim over Eddie, and that Eddie may not return his feelings, but he couldn’t help that ugly jealous feeling that was starting to form over some guy that Eddie hadn’t even met yet.

Eddie started his new job a few days later. After his first two weeks, he brought home enough to pay half of the rent and help buy groceries. It was starting to feel as if he really lived there now, and wasn’t just a house guest. He helped around the apartment, cleaning up because Richie was horrible at keeping the place un-cluttered. 

Once he really felt settled, he began thinking about putting himself out there. He had made a couple friends at work, people he ate lunch with in the break room. But he was thinking of something a little more intimate. Late on Friday night he decided to download Grindr and make himself a profile. He figured he wouldn’t get too many matches, after all he was over thirty-five and not one of those fit, ultra-gorgeous types that LA seemed to be overrun with. He shrugged and put his phone down for the night. When he awoke the next morning, he had a flood of notifications from grindr. He was surprised but read through the messages anyway.A few of them were actually texts. Eddie didn’t need to see this many dicks this early in the morning, and he had a pretty good feeling that these guys only wanted one thing from him. He sighed and closed the app, determined to weed out the guys who actually were looking for a boyfriend later, or to find a different dating app. 

On Monday, Eddie and a few of his coworkers went out to lunch with a few guys from a neighboring firm. 

“Eddie, this is Reese Montgomery.” His boss, Steven, introduced him to one of the guys from the other firm. “Eddie Kaspbrak.” Eddie shook his hand and sat across from him at the table. Reese was handsome, dark hair, thick glasses, he looked good in that three-piece suit. It certainly didn’t help that Reese was singling Eddie out, talking only to him, not the rest of the group. Eddie thought he was just making another friend, no big deal, when he felt Reese’s Italian leather shoe gently caress his ankle. 

_ Oh. Hes flirting. How unprofessional. I like it. _ Eddie thought, letting his own foot do the same. Reese slipped Eddie his number with a wink as they departed. Eddie tucked the napkin in his pocket, feeling anxious on the whole walk back to the office. He was afraid his coworkers and his boss would have noticed the rather blatant flirtation. When he got back to his desk, Eddie put the number in his phone and trashed the napkin. 

A day or two later, Eddie texted the number and quickly received a reply asking him if he would like to go out for drinks the following night after work. He quickly agreed, and Reese said that it was a date. Eddie felt sort of giddy. He had never been on a date with a guy before. He realized he had never been on a date with anyone besides Myra. He felt like he was missing out on a lot and now he needed to make up for lost time. “I’ve got a date tomorrow night!” Eddie eagerly told Richie. 

“Cool…” Richie said with a half smile as he closed the door to his bedroom. He had a show tomorrow night, at least he wouldn’t have to be sitting around waiting on Eddie to come back from his date. 

Work drug on the following day, but finally Eddie was able to leave. He went to the bar where Reese had suggested that they meet. Eddie got himself a drink and waited. The place was crowded, and it was obviously a gay bar. There were almost no women in the room and plenty of guys on the dance floor. 

When Reese arrived, it soon became clear to Eddie that he had no real vested interest in getting to know him. He only half listened when Eddie talked, instead he focused on getting Eddie good and drunk. He brought Eddie to the dance floor, Eddie wobbled a bit and followed, feeling loose, though he knew he was a terrible dancer. Reese pulled him close, Eddie’s back to Reese’s chest. Something about this didn’t feel right, but Eddie was sure it was just nerves. They danced like that for a while, Reese grinding on Eddie, Eddie pressing back against him, trying his best to get into it. Reese reached into his pocket and pulled out a little container with a few pills tucked inside. Time to really get the party started. He turned Eddie around and held the pill up, placing it between his lips and diving in to kiss Eddie. 

Eddie panicked, he felt the pill in his mouth and spat it back out into Reese’s face. He wrenched himself away from his date and made a beeline for the exit. Reese followed, a string of obscenities flowed from his mouth and something about wasting good drugs. He caught up to Eddie, who turned around and promptly punched him square in the jaw. Eddie moved away as fast as he drunkenly could and hailed a cab that would take him home. He shuffled to the elevator, feeling undeniably weary. The motion of the elevator made him queasy but the stairs would have been even worse. He unlocked the door and went inside. Richie was on the sofa, a drink in his hand and the tv on. 

“Hey, how was your date?” Richie asked. He turned around and his face fell when he saw the state Eddie was in. 

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” Eddie sighed. Richie got him a glass of water and lead him to the sofa. 

“He kissed me Rich. But there was a pill in his mouth...and he tried to...Why is everyone always trying to fucking drug me? My mom, my wife now some random guy?” Anger welled up in Eddie but it turned into fat, drunk tears. 

“Shit, Eds.” Richie sighed, putting his arm around Eddie’s shoulders. Eddie rests his head on Richie’s shoulder and lets the tears flow. Eddies phone rang, then rang again, and then rang some more. Eddie looked at the screen and sighed. Reese kept calling.On the fourth call Richie grabbed the phone from Eddie and answered the call. He couldn’t remember ever being this mad at somebody he had never met. 

The guy on the other end must have been Eddie’s date and he was clearly very upset about getting punched. “Call this number again and you’re gonna get a lot more than a punch to the face.” Richie said into the phone as a litany of curses and promises for revenge. He hung up and set Eddie’s phone back down on the coffee table. 

“Thanks, Rich.” He said as he stood up slowly. Eddie hugged him tight. 

“You good, Eds?” Richie asked. 

“I think so. If I could handle Pennywise, I can handle that clown.”

Richie laughed and gently let go of Eddie. 

“Good one, Eds.” he said “Now go get some rest.” 


End file.
